ARLINGTON, Va. -- Running out of games and healthy defensemen, the Washington Capitals used Saturday to regroup and recharge before facing elimination in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the New York Rangers at Capital One Arena on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, MNMT, truTV, MSGSN, TBS, MSG, SNP, SNO, SNE, SN360, TVAS).
“I think the way that we’ll handle it as a staff is let, today, the dust settle and really take advantage of tomorrow," Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said following an optional practice Saturday, "building up the day and guys understand the messaging of the same way that it’s been for multiple months of us finding a way to win one game and being excited and energized about that.
“We’re not going to pretend to not know the situation and the scenario without there being a tomorrow, but I also know this group and have learned that in these situations, you know what you’re going to get from the entire group. And that’s what I expect to see tomorrow night.”
After losing 3-1 in Game 3 on Friday and losing another defenseman when Trevor van Riemsdyk sustained an upper-body injury on an interference hit by New York forward Matt Rempe, Washington faces a 3-0 deficit in the best-of-7 series that only four teams in NHL history have overcome (4-202). The last to do it was the 2014 Los Angeles Kings in the first round against the San Jose Sharks.
The Capitals will have to do it without van Riemsdyk, who is out for Game 4 along with defenseman Vincent Iorio, who sustained an upper-body injury on a hit from Rangers forward Alexis Lafrenière in Game 1 and skated in a non-contact jersey on Saturday.
Defensemen Rasmus Sandin, who hasn’t played since April 7, and Nick Jensen, who hasn’t played since April 13, continue to work their back from upper-body injuries, skating in regular jerseys. But it’s unclear if either will be cleared medically to play Sunday.
“They’ve been out so long now that it’s just if they’re able go tomorrow, great and we’ll get them right back in there,” Carbery said. “If they can’t, it will be status quo.”
If Sandin and Jensen can’t play, defenseman Hardy Haman Aktell would make his Stanley Cup Playoff debut. He would be the ninth Capitals player to play in his first NHL postseason game in the series, including four defensemen, joining Iorio, Alexander Alexeyev and Lucas Johansen. In addition, defenseman Dylan McIlrath had played in only one NHL playoff game before this series.
“The guys that are in this room that are continuing to play have been playing difficult hockey all year for the last two months,” Washington forward Nic Dowd said. “[Johansen] steps in. McIlrath steps in. I think they’ve played really, really well.”
Whoever plays on defense, the Capitals' focus will be on doing what they need to win Game 4 and force Game 5 at New York on Wednesday.
Washington knows it needs to clean up several areas of its game, particularly special teams. The Capitals went 0-for-6 on the power play and allowed a short-handed goal to forward Barclay Goodrow and a power-play goal to center Vincent Trocheck in Game 3. The Rangers scored the winning goal short-handed in each of the past two games.
“The short-handed goals, those can’t happen this time of year,” Carbery said. “We’re not doing nearly a good enough job on the power play. … Puck recoveries have been a real struggle. They’re pressuring [forward Alex Ovechkin], he’s having to put it on the rim. We’ve got to do a better job with being able to alleviate pressure.
“So those little areas, us not being able to grab a hold of one of those, is costing us potentially winning games.”
Though Washington is happier with its 5-on-5 play, it has managed to score only one 5-on-5 goal in each of the first three games. Ovechkin, who scored 23 of his team-leading 31 goals in the final 36 regular-season games, has yet to register a point in the series. The Capitals have averaged 25 shots on goal through the first three games and didn’t reach 30 in any of them.
That’s a carryover from the regular season, when Washington was 30th in the NHL, averaging 26.5 shots on goal per game and was 28th in the League with 2.63 goals per game.
The Capitals were able to overcome that down the stretch by playing a structured defensive game in front of goalie Charlie Lindgren and scoring timely goals to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the second wild card from the Eastern Conference.
They’ve yet to be able to repeat that winning formula against the Rangers, who are deeper throughout their lineup and won the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s top team in the regular season.
“At the end of the year when we were winning those big games, it was always really defensive,” Capitals center Hendrix Lapierre said. “Maybe they have a little more talent than us, so I think it makes sense that we want to make a defensive game.
"We want to play a low-risk game, a low-eventful game. I think that’s our identity. That’s how we play, and we haven’t done that so far, but we’re going to stick to it.”
